Social Care, like many job sectors, provides a continually changing work environment with varying degrees of difficulty. No matter which client-group a person becomes involved with, it is almost inevitable that they will experience individuals that display “challenging behaviour”:

“culturally abnormal behaviour(s) of such intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit or deny access to the use of ordinary community facilities”

Emerson, E. (2001). p7.

Further to this, it could be argued that any anti-social action that creates a barrier in a relationship or creates significant difficulty in interaction could also be described as “challenging”. By referring to this idea, people will be more able to identify behaviours that are in this category and understand how they contrast with general misbehaviour. The reason for this is that it is conveyed that challenging behaviour is that which requires a higher level of skill and professionalism to deal with as it can result in the harm of either the individual or those around them – physically or emotionally. It also suggests that this is the type of behaviour which is irregular to that of societal norms and would be clearly recognised as such.

By looking at the more specific behaviours, it is clear to see why these are understand to be challenging. Moreso nowadays, people are resorting to self-harming in a bid to cope with the stresses and anxieties they have experienced – it could even be as a result of a traumatic event or loss of someone or something dear to them. Self-harming can cover a wide variety of actions such as cutting, starving or poisoning one’s self, to name a few. Aggression is another form in which service users display difficult-to-manage attitudes and this may be either physical or verbal. Punching,...